The senate votes to force sex offenders into a prison sex offender treatment program if they have any hope of release.

The proposal closes a loophole in present law that says the board of probation and parole lacks the power to deny parole or probation to a person convicted of sexual assault if that person has failed to complete treatment, education, and rehabilitiation programs while in custody.

Senator Mike Kehoe’s bill gives the board that power to deny.

Kehoe says the track record of the program indicates that those offenders who go through the program do not repeat. Other supporters say completion of the program could keep some offenders from being sent to the Farmington sex offenders unit after completing their full sentences.

The Senate passed the bill unanimously last year. But it died in the House. It’s headed to the House again.

Listen to the final debate 7:14 mp3